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Longmont man, company fined for dumping sewage in Union Reservoir

By Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
07/29/2013 05:13:19 PM MDT

Updated:
07/29/2013 06:00:34 PM MDT

DENVER -- A Longmont man and his company on Monday were fined $10,000 each for illegally dumping sewage in Union Reservoir, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Environmental Protection Agency announced.

John Albert Paquette, 53, and the company, East Point, LLC, were accused in March of discharging 1,000 gallons of raw sewage in to the Oligarchy Ditch, which flows in to Union Reservior.

Paquette and the company pleaded guilty in federal court in April.

On June 20, a city maintenance crew cleaning up the Oligarchy saw Paquette's truck pull up to the ditch, then run a hose from the truck's interior down to the ditch, Longmont environmental services manager Cal Youngberg said in March.

Paquette had allowed someone to live in a small house at his storage facility, East Point Mini Storage, 12121 Sugar Mill Road. While the unit had a city water tap, it did not have a access to sewer service. According to Boulder County authorities, the property's septic tank was not big enough.

Subsequent testing found the discharge caused no damage to Union Reservoir.

The business faced up to five years of probation and a fine between $5,000 and $50,000 per day of the violation; Paquette faced up to a year in prison and a fine between $2,500 and $25,000 per day without the plea deal.

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